Smoke-consuming furnace.



No. 720,571. PATENTED PEB. 1'7, 1903. C. H. BDDINS & GfBUDDIE.

SMOKE CONSUMING FURNAGE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 10,1902.

N0 MODEL.

z sums-snm 1.

'Chzrrlo HE dini k Y Glwonoq udd'xo,

TH: Npnms Pzrzns co, FNoTaLITHo.. WASHINGTON, n. c.

110.720,571. PATENTED m11?, 1903.'

G. H. EDDINS & c. 1311111111:.

SMOKE CONSUMING PURNACE.

APPLIOATIQNHLED JUNE 1o, 1902.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES H. EDDINS AND CLARENCE BUDDIF., OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNORS OF ONE-HALF TO JAMES LAWSON LA PRELLE, OF ST.

LOUIS, MISSOURI.

" SMOKE-CONSUMING FURNACE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 720,571, dated February 17, 1903.

Application ined June 1o. 1902.

To all whom/.zit may concern:

Be it known that we, CHARLES H. EDDINs and CLARENCE BUDDIE, citizens of the United States, residing at St. Louis, State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Smoke-Consuming Furnaces, of which the'following is a specification.

This invention relates to furnaces, particularly of the steam-boiler type, and has special reference to certain new and useful improvements comprising means for consuming the smoke and other combustible products usually escaping from furnaces or fires and constituting what is commonly known as the smoke nuisance.

In carrying out the invention one of the 0bjects thereof :is to provide a construction and arrangement of parts requiring a minimum amount of alteration in a furnace and `which will not interfere in the least with the draft thereof, While at the same time comprehending positive and reliable means for feeding oxygen containing air from the outside of the furnace to the smoke and other products of combustion and thoroughly mixing the same under such conditions as to insure a thorough consumption of the smoke and other combustble products which pass out of the fireboX of the furnace.

The invention also contemplates a construction which can be readily adapted to any ordinary type of furnace and which through the medium of its provision for consuming the smoke and other combustible products effects a material saving or economy in fuel.

With these and many other objects in View, which will more readily appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in the novel construction, combination, and arrangement of parts, as will be hereinafter more fully described, illustrated, and claimed.

The essential feature of the invention involved in the formation of the supplemental re-wall and its special relation to the airfeeding bridge-wall are necessarily susceptible to modification, according to the particular conditions under which the invention is applied to a furnace;'but a preferred embodi- Serial No. 111,040'. i (No model.)

Vpreferable manner of arranging the'air-distributing. ports of this wall contiguous to the rear upper edge thereof.

Like reference-numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

The improvements constituting the'present invention may obviously be associated with different types of furnaces; but for illustrative purposes the same are shown in the drawings as applied toA a furnace of the steamboiler type.

Referring particularly to the drawings, the nu meral l designates the furnace-casing, constructed in any approved form and having mounted therein the boiler 2, which is illustrated as of the kind set at an angle or obliquely to the base or bottom line of the furnace. Y

The furnace in its general organization also includes 4in the front part thereof beneath the front end of the boiler the grate 4, beneath which is the ordinary ash-pit 5. It is preferable in the carryingout of the invention that, in addition to the means hereinafter described for feeding oxygen containing air to the smoke and other combustible products from the tire, there be employed supplemental air-feeding means in the shape of an air-feeding door 6. This air-feeding door 6 is preferably of the construction disclosed in our other application, Serial No. 107,215, filed May 14,1902; but the essential feature thereof, as far as the present invention is concerned,re sides in the said door comprising means for feeding air to the fire upon the grate immediately after the introduction of green fuel. The said air-feeding door 6 therefore acts in a supplemental capacity to the air feeding and mixing means, which will now be described.

One of the important features of the invention resides in utilizing the bridge-wall 7 as a means for supplying or introducing air from the exterior of the furnace throughout the interior portion thereof immediately in rear of the wall. The said bridge-wall 7 occupies its usual location in the furnacew-that is, the same extends transversely across the entire width of the furnace-casing, forms the rear wall of the fire-box, and is built up from the base or bottom of the furnace. The said bridge-wall may be constructed of fire-brick or any other suitable material and terminates at its upper end short of the boiler parts thereabove to permit the fire, smoke, and other products of combustion to pass over the top of the bridge-wall into the portion of the furnace in rear thereof.

To adapt the bridge-wall for the purpose of feeding air into the furnace at the rear side of the wall, the latter has formed therein a longitudinal air-supply channel E., which is entirely inclosed within the wall and extends longitudinally thereof throughout its entire extent, the said air-supply channel 8 having one or both ends in communication with the outer air exterior to the furnace, at the side or sides thereof.

In conjunction with the main air-supply channel 8, extending longitudinally through the bridge-wall, there is associated with such channel a plurality of air-distributing ports 9. These air-distributing ports 9 pierce the rear side of the bridge-wall 7 contiguous to the upper rear edge thereof and have their inner ends in communication with the supply-channel S. The said distributing-ports 9 are also preferably arranged in several longitudinal rows to provide a maximum distributing area for the air, which is drawn out of the channel 8 and distributed into the smoke and other combustible products which pass over the top of the bridge-wall into the space at the rear thereof.

An important feature of the invention resides in combining with the air-feeding bridge- Wall 7 a supplemental {ire-wall 10. This supplemental lire-wall 10 is built upright within the furnace and extends from the base thereof to and against the lower portion of the boiler, besides extending transversely across the entire width of the furnace to constitute a complete baffling-wall for the smoke and other products of combustion, so that the latter are compelled to pass through the cells of the fire-wall before the same can reach the enlarged closed combustion-chamber 11, formed in the back portion of the furnace between the fire-wall 10 and the extreme rear or back wall 12 of the furnace-casing proper.

Theintermediatelydocated uprightfire-wall 10 is spaced a sufficient distance from the rear side of the bridge-Wall 7 to provide between the said two walls an intervening suctionchamber 13, which is closed in at the sides by the walls 7 and 10, respectively, and is in communication at the top with the space above the bridge-wall 7.

An important feature of the invention to be observed in this connection is the fact that the suction-space 13 is not a combustionchamber and does not perform the functions of chambers of this character which have heretofore been located directly in rear of the bridge-wall, but in contradistinction thereto is intended to be of such dimensions and so confined between the walls 7 1() as to provide a narrow channel or passage for the air and within which is created and maintained a suction by the passage of the products of combustion from the bridge -wall, passing from the latter almost directly into the flues of the wall 10. In other words, the lire-wall 10, which extends to the bottom of the boiler, is disposed in very close proximity to the bridge-wall to provide an intervening narrow chamber or channel for suction and mixing purposes, the final mixing of the air with the gases being completed within the passages of the fire-wall and ignition thereof initiated as the mixed products pass from said passages into the combustiouchamber for final combustion.

The upright supplemental fire-Wall 10 is of peculiar formation. The said Wall surmounts a supporting-base 14E, constituting the lower portion of the wall and built of masonry or brick, besides being usually provided with the openings 15, directly adjoining the base or bottom ot' the furnace. The main portion of the supplemental fire-wall 10, which is arranged on the supporting-base 14:,may be properly characterized as being of a cellular formation, as the same essentially consists of a stacked bank of tiles 16 and 17, arranged to provide a multiplicity of rows of prolonged or extended straight transverse flue-passages or openings 18, extending entirely through the wall 10 and in communication, respectively, with the suction-chamber 13 and the rear closed combustion-chamber11. The tiles 16 are arranged vertically upon edge and in spaced relation to provide the partition-walls of the flue passages or openings,while the tiles 17 are laid closely together and horizontally upon the vertically-disposed tiles 16 to constitute the tops and bottoms of the said flue passages or openings. It will be observed by reference to Fig. 1 of the drawings that several lengths of the cells 1G are preferably employed to provide passages or openings 18 of a very considerable length, thus insuring a final and thorough mixing of the products of combustion with the air drawn into the said passages or openings prior to the discharge of the mixed products into the closed combustion-chamber 11. This relative proportion and disposition of the several instru mentalities is a very important feature of the invention, and it is by reason of the same that successful results are accomplished. In these particulars also the invention differs from that type of furnaces IOO IID

involving the feeding of air wherein an extended or large combustion-chamber is interposed between the bridge-wall and the firewall of whatever character it may be. This detail method of forming the said fine passages or openings may of Vcourse be altered Without affecting the essential featurel of the supplemental fire-Wall-namely, that of providing the same with a multiplicity of transverse flue passages or openings of extended lengths. The cellular or multiflue part of the supplemental fire-wall lies entirely within the horizontal plane of the bridge-wall 7, so that the smoke and other products of combustion are compelledv to pass over the top of the fire-wall and downwardly, more or less, into the narrow suction chamber or channel 13 before the same can finally escape into and through the transverse ue passages or openings 18 of the fire-wall, hence insuring the suction action within the chamber 13 which induces or draws out a supply of air through the ports 9 from the air-supply channel 8 of the bridge-wall. It will therefore vbe understood that in the operation of the furnace the smoke and other combustible products from the lire sweep over the top of the bridge-wall, and then passing downwardly into the chamber 13 directly enter the flue passages or opcninge 18 and pass into the rear combustion-chamber ll. This circulation of the smoke and other products of combustion necessarily creates and maintains avacuum or partial vacuu 1n within the chamber 13, which serves to draw out asupply of air from the channel 8,which supply of air com mingles and mixes with the smoke and other products' of combustion in the suction-chamberand also in the flue passages or openings, and by reason of the cellular or multiflue formation ofthe wall 10 it will be obvious that the surfaces of the walls of the individual passages or openings 18 become very greatly heated and contribute to the ignition of the smoke and other combustible products when supplied with oxygen from the fresh air. The combustion of the smoke and other combustible products is completed within the rear closed combustion-chamber 1l, and the deposits ofashes and other accumulations within the said chamber 11 maybe removed from time to time through the side clean-out door or doors 19.

From the foregoing it is thought that the G La construction,operation,and many advantages ofthe herein-described smoke-consuming furnace will bereadily apparent to those familiar with the art without further description, and it will also be understood that various changes in the form, proportion, and minor details of construction may be resorted to'without departing from the spirit of the invention or sacrificing any of the advantages thereof.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed, and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is v 1. In a smoke-consuming furnace, the combination of the furnace-casing having within the rear thereof an enlarged closed combustion-chamber, an air-feedin g bridge-wall having means for discharging air at the rear side thereof, and a hollow cellular fire-wall extending from the base of the furnace to the bottom of the boiler and arranged in close proximity to the bridge-wall to provide between the two said walls a narrow suction chamber or channel, said fire-wall having below the plane of the top of the bridge-Wall a multiplicity of prolonged passages in communication with the rear closed combustion-chamber.

2. In a smoke-consuming furnace, the furnace-casing having Within the rear thereofa close combustion-chamber, an upright bridgewall provided with a longitudinal air-supply v channel in communication with the outer air,

and also with a plurality of air-distributing v ports opening at the rear side thereof, and a supplemental upright fire-wall of greater elevation than the bridge-wall and arranged in close proximity thereto to provide between the said two walls a narrow suction chamber vor channel, said fire-wall consisting of a supporting-base and a hollow cellular portion CHARLES H. EDDINS. CLARENCE BUDDIE.

Vitnesses:

W. E. BYBEE, HENRY PRICE. 

